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A Rosetta Stone for Mathematics: André Weil's 1940 letter

In 1940 André Weil wrote a letter to his sister, Simone, outlining his vision for translating between three distinct areas of mathematics. Eighty years later, it still animates many of the most exciting developments in the field.

He was serving time for refusing to join the French army, and he filled his days in part by writing letters to his sister, Simone, an accomplished philosopher living in London. With war all around, André began his reply cautiously, warning his sister that past a certain point “you will understand nothing of what follows.” Over the next 14 pages, he sketched his idea for a “Rosetta stone” for mathematics. The project began in 1967 when its founder, Robert Langlands, described his idea in a letter to Weil, expressing a desire to connect different branches of inquiry within number theory itself.

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